Mayor of Famagusta Alexis Galanos said on Monday that the issue of this Turkish occupied town, which, based on the relevant UN resolutions, should have priority at the Cyprus talks, has been to some extent played down.
Speaking at a press conference on the Municipality`s anti-occupation event to be organized on the 6th of August, Galanos said that based on the UN Security Council Resolutions, Famagusta should be a priority at the Cyprus issue, and expressed sorrow for the fact that the issue has been downgraded.
He recalled that Famagusta is now ghost town, and is being destroyed by Turkish troops, following the Turkish invasion against Cyprus in 1974.
Noting that the Famagusta issue constitutes a Confidence Building Measure, he said that it is not even being discussed during the efforts to reach a Cyprus solution.
The Famagusta issue, he said, should continue to be discussed in parallel, noting that in the event there is no progress at the Cyprus talks and “things are not as optimistic as some people want to present them”, the Famagusta issue will take a step back and recalled the numerous efforts, including the signatures campaign organised by the Famagusta Municipality, noting that they brought the issue forward after the rejection of the UN Anan plan in 2004.
As regards the various plans for the reconstruction of Famagusta, Galanos said that there are some initiatives and plans, but pointed out that first of all there should be a political will on behalf of Turkey to comply with the relevant UN resolutions, adding that the reconstruction would take many years.
Referring to the anti-occupation event, on the 6th of August at the Cultural Center of the Famagusta Municipality in Deryneia, Galanos called upon the people to attend, especially the younger generations.
Key note speaker at the event will be Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides. The Mayor of Famagusta will also give a speech at the event, which will also be addressed by a number of other people, including on behalf of the President of the Hellenic Parliament, MP Demetrios Emmanouilides.
His speech at the event will be the last one in his capacity as Mayor of the occupied town, Galanos announced.
Elections for the local administration will take place late this year and Galanos said that he will not seek re-election.
But he pledged to continue his struggle for Famagusta and justice in Cyprus.
`I still believe that I will live to see the day of our return to Famagusta`, he concluded.
Famagusta, after its occupation by Turkish troops on 16 August 1974 and after having been looted, was sealed off and since no one is allowed to enter the town. The term “ghost town” was coined by Swedish journalist Jan-Olof Bengtsson, who visited the Swedish UN battalion in the Famagusta port and gazing at the sealed off town, wrote in Kvallsposten (24.9.1977): “ The asphalt on the roads has cracked in the warm sun and along the sidewalks bushes are growing. Today-September 1977- the breakfast tables are still set, the laundry still hanging and the lamps still burning. Varosha is a ghost town.”
The UN Security Council adopted on 11 May 1984 resolution 550, which considers attempts to settle any part of Varosha (the fenced off area of Famagusta) by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the United Nations.
The return of Famagusta to the United Nations as a buffer zone for resettlement is also requested by Security Council resolution 789 of 1992.
Famagusta issue has been played down
